SNEAKY council chiefs are using laws designed to combat terrorism to spy on noisy neighbours.

Wolverhampton City Council is carrying out surveillance operations to monitor sound levels coming from homes of unsuspecting tenants.

The local authority is using the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA) for the secret operations.

But the legislation was originally designed to fight terrorism - and there are concerns that some councils are misusing it.

Birmingham City Council bosses have also admitted carrying out 400 RIPA operations over the last three years. They included probes into anti-social behaviour, money lending and laundering, fraud, trading standards offences, fly tipping and fly posting.

But Leicester East MP Keith Vaz, Chairman of the Commons Home Affairs Committee, said: "I am very disappointed to hear of more examples of council's misusing powers that they have to tackle terrorism.

"We have just completed an inquiry into the surveillance society and have noted that there has been a huge growth in the use of these laws."

The latest RIPA operations are being conducted by Wolverhampton Homes, which is in charge of the council's housing stock. It has used RIPA powers six times in three years after taking delivery of new sound testing machines.

Mark Henderson, director of housing for Wolverhampton Homes, said: "It is wrong to suggest this is a mis-use of 'anti-terror' laws specifically designed to allow covert surveillance of suspected terrorists and gangsters.

"They are not specifically anti-terror powers and they don't give us or anyone else new powers to carry out surveillance.

"They simply control how a wide range of public bodies, including councils, actually carry out what they have been doing for a number of years.

"There are tight controls on using these powers. We can use these powers to respond to tenant's complaints and this is entirely what the act is intended for."

Birmingham Council has used RIPA 346 times since 2005/6.

Mirza Ahmad, Chief Legal Officer for the authority, said: "We are committed to putting citizens first and will use whatever powers exist, where appropriate, to catch rogue traders, doorstep criminals and scam artists who prey on some of the most vulnerable in our society.

"As the largest local authority in the country, it is not surprising that we have used this legislation more than other councils."

The Sunday Mercury previously revealed Staffordshire County Council was using the laws to spy on kids they suspected of underage smoking and drinking.

Trading standards officers secretly filmed underage kids smoking and drinking during some of their investigations -and used informants to identify rogue shopkeepers who sold them fags and booze.

Leicestershire County Council is also using RIPA to investigate underage sales and to spy on car clocking and counterfeiting. It has launched 73 surveillance operations using RIPA over the last three years - and employed 23 registered informants to help them with investigations.